System including point-of-sale (POS) terminal for redemption of a brand based promotional offer based upon mobile device location and related methods

ABSTRACT

A system may include a promotions server for storing a brand-based beverage promotional offer and a mobile wireless communications device associated with a user. The system may also include a point-of-sale (POS) terminal located at a beverage serving establishment for acquiring user identification information, opening a user beverage tab and communicating the user identification information to the promotions server, and closing and communicating the user beverage tab to the promotions server. The user beverage tab may identify a brand of a beverage ordered by the user. The promotions server may determine that the mobile device is at the beverage serving establishment and send a notification of the brand-based beverage promotional offer to the mobile device. The promotions server may also determine that the brand of beverage ordered by the user matches the brand-based beverage promotional offer and communicate the brand-based beverage promotional offer to the POS terminal for redemption thereat.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to the field of electronics, and moreparticularly, to the location-based processing of promotional offers andrelated methods.

BACKGROUND

Sales of a particular product or service may be based upon how well thatproduct or service is marketed to a consumer. One form of marketing is acoupon, typically in paper form, for a discount toward the product orservice. Some coupons may be retailer specific, for example, onlyredeemable for the discount at a particular retailer, while othercoupons may be product specific from a manufacturer and redeemable atany retailer.

A coupon, while typically in paper form, may be in digital form and maybe referred to a digital promotion. A digital promotion may be selectedor “clipped” via a mobile phone and saved to a digital wallet forredemption at a point-of-sale (POS) terminal, for example. A typicalcoupon is applicable to a given product and has a redeemable value thatmay vary based upon the quantity of a given item, for example, brand ofitem, size of the product in terms of packaging, and/or the price pointof the given item. A typical coupon may also be redeemable only at agiven retailer and/or within a threshold time period.

SUMMARY

A brand-based promotional offer system may include a promotions serverconfigured to store at least one brand-based beverage promotional offerand a mobile wireless communications device associated with a user. Thebrand-based promotional offer system may also include a point-of-sale(POS) terminal located at a beverage serving establishment andconfigured to acquire user identification information and open a userbeverage tab and communicate the user identification information to thepromotions server. The POS terminal may also be configured to close theuser beverage tab and communicate the user beverage tab to thepromotions server, the user beverage tab identifying a brand of abeverage ordered by the user. The promotions server may be configured todetermine that the mobile wireless communications device is at thebeverage serving establishment, and send a notification of the at leastone brand-based beverage promotional offer to the mobile wirelesscommunications device. The promotions server may also be configured todetermine that the brand of beverage ordered by the user matches the atleast one brand-based beverage promotional offer, and communicate the atleast one brand-based beverage promotional offer to the POS terminal forredemption thereat.

The POS terminal may include a POS device processor and a payment cardreader coupled thereto. The POS device processor may be configured toopen the user beverage tab based upon reading a payment card associatedwith the user via the payment card reader, for example. The promotionsserver may be configured to send the notification based upon reading thepayment card.

The mobile wireless communications device may include a geographicposition determining device and a mobile device processor cooperatingtherewith to communicate a geographic position of the mobile wirelesscommunications device to the promotions server. The promotions servermay be configured to determine that the mobile wireless communicationsdevice is at the beverage serving establishment based upon thegeographic position, for example.

The user identification information may include at least one of apayment card identifier associated with the user, a name of the user,and a phone number associated with the user, for example. The POSterminal may be configured to acquire user identification informationwirelessly from the mobile wireless communications device.

The mobile wireless communications device may include a display and amobile device processor coupled thereto. The notification may bedisplayed on the display, for example.

The notification may include at least one of an applicationnotification, a short message service (SMS) message, and an email, forexample. The at least one brand-based beverage promotional offer mayinclude a discount toward the brand of the beverage ordered by the user.

The user beverage tab may identify a value associated with the brand ofthe beverage ordered by the user, for example. The promotional offerserver may be configured accept an order for the beverage ordered by theuser based upon the at least one brand-based beverage promotional offer.

A method aspect is directed to a method of processing a brand-basedpromotional offer. The method may include using a promotions serverincluding a memory and a processor coupled thereto to store in thememory at least one brand-based beverage promotional offer and determinethat a mobile wireless communications device associated with a user isat the beverage serving establishment, and send a notification of the atleast one brand-based beverage promotional offer to the mobile wirelesscommunications device. The promotions server may also be used todetermine that a brand of beverage ordered by the user matches the atleast one brand-based beverage promotional offer, and communicate the atleast one brand-based beverage promotional offer to a point-of-sale(POS) terminal for redemption thereat. The POS terminal may be locatedat a beverage serving establishment and configured to acquire useridentification information, open a user beverage tab and communicate theuser identification information to the promotions server, and close theuser beverage tab and communicate the user beverage tab to thepromotions server, the user beverage tab identifying the brand of abeverage ordered by the user.

A non-transitory computer readable medium aspect is directed to anon-transitory computer readable medium that includes computerexecutable instructions for processing a brand-based beveragepromotional offer that when executed by a processor cause the processorto perform operations. The operations may include storing in a memorycoupled to the processor at least one brand-based beverage promotionaloffer. The operations may also include determining that a mobilewireless communications device associated with a user is at a beverageserving establishment, and sending a notification of the at least onebrand-based beverage promotional offer to the mobile wirelesscommunications device. The operations may further include determiningthat a brand of beverage ordered by the user matches the at least onebrand-based beverage promotional offer, and communicating the at leastone brand-based beverage promotional offer to a point-of-sale (POS)terminal for redemption thereat. The POS terminal may be located at thebeverage serving establishment and configured to acquire useridentification information, open a user beverage tab and communicate theuser identification information to the promotions server, and close theuser beverage tab and communicate the user beverage tab to thepromotions server, and the user beverage tab may identify the brand of abeverage ordered by the user.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a brand-based promotional offer system.

FIG. 2 is another schematic diagram of the brand-based promotional offersystem of FIG. 1

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of operation of the brand-based promotional offersystem of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention will now be described more fully hereinafter withreference to the accompanying drawings, in which preferred embodimentsof the invention are shown. This invention may, however, be embodied inmany different forms and should not be construed as limited to theembodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided sothat this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fullyconvey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. Likenumbers refer to like elements throughout.

Referring initially to FIGS. 1 and 2, a brand-based promotional offersystem 20 includes a promotions server 30. The promotions server 30includes a promotions processor 31 and a promotions memory 32 coupled tothe promotions processor. The promotions memory 32 stores brand-basedbeverage promotional offers, for example, associated with a particularbrand of adult beverage. Of course, the promotions memory 32 may storeother brand-based beverage promotional offers, for example, for softdrinks, nutritional beverages, etc.

The brand-based promotional offer system 20 also includes a mobilewireless communications device 40 associated with a user. The mobilewireless communications device 40 illustratively includes a portablehousing 41, a mobile device processor 42, a mobile device memory 43coupled to the mobile device processor 41, and wireless communicationscircuitry 44 coupled to the mobile device processor. The mobile wirelesscommunications device 40 also includes a display 45, such as, forexample, a touch display, carried by the portable housing 41 and coupledto the mobile device processor 42. The mobile wireless communicationsdevice 40 may include one or more input devices 47 and other types ofoutput devices.

The mobile wireless communications device 40 may also include ageographic position determining device 46 cooperating with the mobiledevice processor 42 to communicate a geographic position of the mobilewireless communications device to the promotions server 30. Thegeographic position determining device 46 may be a global positioningsystem (GPS) device. The mobile wireless communications device 40 may bea mobile phone or smartphone, a table computer, or other type of mobilewireless communications device, as will be appreciated by those skilledin the art.

The system 20 also includes a point-of-sale (POS) terminal 50 located ata beverage serving establishment 23. The POS terminal 50 may be remotefrom the promotions server 30, for example. The POS terminal 50 mayinclude a POS device processor 51 and a POS device memory 52 coupled tothe POS device processor. The POS terminal 50 may also include a paymentcard reader 53 coupled to the POS device processor 51. The payment cardreader 53 may be a magnetic card reader, optical card reader, and/or atouchless, e.g., near-field communication (NFC), card reader. Of course,the payment card reader 53 may be another type of payment card reader.

The payment card reader 53 may cooperate with the POS device processor51 to read, for example, a payment card via a swipe. A payment card mayinclude a credit card, gift card, debit card, etc. The POS terminal 50may also include a touch screen display 54 coupled to the POS deviceprocessor 51. In some embodiments, the POS terminal 50 may include aseparate display and input device, i.e., not a touch screen display.

The POS terminal 50 may also include POS terminal wirelesscommunications circuitry 55 coupled to the POS device processor 51 andcooperating therewith to communicate wirelessly with the mobile wirelesscommunications device 40 via a communications network. The POS terminal50 may also include wired communications circuitry 56 coupled to the POSdevice processor 51 and cooperating therewith to communicate, forexample, with the promotions server 30, via the communications network,which may include the internet.

Referring now additionally to the flowchart 70 in FIG. 3, and beginningat Block 72, operation of the brand-based promotional offer system 20will now be described. The POS terminal 50 is configured to acquire useridentification information (Block 74). The user identificationinformation may include any one or more of a payment card identifierassociated with the user (e.g., credit/debit card number), a name of theuser, and a phone number associated with the user. The POS terminal 50may acquire other and/or additional user identification information. Theuser identification information may be acquired, for example, wirelesslyfrom the mobile wireless communications device 40, via the mobile devicewireless communications circuitry 44 and the POS terminal wirelesscommunications circuitry 55 (e.g., Bluetooth, NFC, etc.). The useridentification information may be acquired by manual entry at the POSterminal 50 or by swiping of a payment card via the payment card reader53, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art.

At Block 76, the POS terminal 50 opens a user beverage tab andcommunicates the acquired user identification information to thepromotions server 30. The POS device processor 51 may open the userbeverage tab based upon reading the payment card associated with theuser via the payment card reader 53. As will be appreciated by thoseskilled in the art, the user beverage tab may be opened and the useridentification information acquired based upon the same reading orswiping of the payment card, for example. In some embodiments, the userinformation may be acquired and the user beverage tab opened in separateoperations.

At block 78, the promotions server 30 determines that the mobilewireless communications device is at the beverage serving establishment23 and sends a notification of the brand-based beverage promotionaloffers to the mobile wireless communications device 40 for display onthe display 45 (Block 80). For example, the notification may be in theform of an in-application notification where an application on themobile device cooperates to perform the functions described herein, ashort message service (SMS) message, and/or an email. Of course, thenotification may be another type of notification. The notification maynotify the user of a “first drink on us” promotion good toward abeverage of the specified brand at the beverage serving establishment23. The notification may notify the user of multiple brand-basedpromotions including the brand and value of the promotion. If, at Block78, the mobile wireless communications device 40 is not at the beverageserving establishment 23, the promotions server 30 may poll for thelocation of the mobile wireless communications device, for example, solong as the corresponding application is running on the mobile wirelesscommunications device.

The promotions server 30 may determine that the mobile wirelesscommunications device 40 is at the beverage serving establishment 23based upon the geographic position of the mobile wireless communicationsdevice 40. More particularly, the geographic position of the mobilewireless communications device 40 may be wirelessly communicated fromthe mobile wireless communications device to the promotions server 30 todetermine whether the geographic position matches a beverage servingestablishment 23 associated with or participating in one or more of thebrand-based promotions. The promotions server 30 may alternatively oradditionally determine that the mobile wireless communications device 40is at the beverage serving establishment 23 based upon authentication orcommunication of the mobile wireless communications device with the POSterminal 50, which in turn may communicate this information and/orlocation determining information associated with the POS terminal to thepromotions server. It should be understood that while operations arebeing described in a particular sequence, the operational sequence isnot limited to that described herein. For example, the promotions server30 may determine whether the mobile wireless communications device 40 isat the beverage serving establishment 23 on an on-going basis and/orbefore, after, or concurrently with the acquisition of useridentification information.

In some embodiments, the notification may be optionally sent based uponreading of the payment card at the POS terminal 50. In other words, thenotification may be sent when the mobile wireless communications device40 is determined to be at the beverage serving establishment 23 and uponswiping of the payment card at the payment card reader 53, for example,to open the beverage tab.

In some embodiments, if, for example, a payment card associated with theuser is swiped at the payment card reader 53, and the mobile wirelesscommunications device 40 associated with the user is determined not tobe at the beverage serving establishment 23, this may be indicative ofpotential fraud, and the promotions server 30 may send a notificationfor display on the mobile wireless communications device of thepotential fraudulent use of the payment card along with the name and/orlocation of the beverage serving establishment. The promotions server 30may also communicate with the POS terminal 50, and/or other paymentprocessing servers to notify of the potential fraud and/or not permitthe opening of the user beverage tab.

At Block 81, the promotions server 30 may accept an order for thebeverage ordered by the user based upon the at least one brand-basedbeverage promotional offer. For example, an “order now” button 49 may bedisplayed on the display 45, and the user may provide input to themobile wireless communications device 40 to place an order. The ordermay be communicated from the mobile wireless communications device 40 tothe promotions server 30. Alternatively, the order may be placed at thePOS terminal 50 and communicated to the promotions server 30.

At Block 82, the POS terminal 50 closes the user beverage tab andcommunicates the user beverage tab to the promotions server 30. The userbeverage tab that is sent to the promotions server 30 includes oridentifies the brand of each beverage ordered by the user and acorresponding value or dollar amount. The user beverage tab may beclosed by manual entry via the POS terminal 50, the payment card reader53, and/or through communications between the mobile wirelesscommunications device 40 and the POS terminal, for example, using NFC.

At Block 84, the promotions server 30 determines that the brand ofbeverage ordered by the user, and included on their beverage tab,matches the brand-based beverage promotional offer, and communicates thebrand-based beverage promotional offer or offers to the POS terminal 50for redemption thereat (Block 86). Upon redemption, the brand-basedbeverage promotional offer is applied to the corresponding brand ofbeverage on the user beverage tab as a discount. The discount maycorrespond to the full or partial value of the beverage. In other words,the user's beverage tab is reduced by the value of the discount orpromotional offer against the value of the corresponding beverage. Ifthe user did not order or purchase the brand of beverage for thepromotion (i.e., no match between the brand-based beverage promotionaloffer and the brand of beverage ordered by the user), no brand basedpromotional offer is communicated to the POS terminal 50, and thus nodiscount is applied. In some embodiments, the closing of the userbeverage tab may be time limited. In other words, the user may have alimited amount of time, for example, from notification, to redeem thebrand-based beverage promotional offer. The method ends at Block 90.

A method of processing a brand-based beverage promotional offer thatincludes using a promotions server 30 that includes a memory 32 and aprocessor 31 coupled thereto to store in the memory at least onebrand-based beverage promotional offer. The method also includes usingthe promotions server 30 to determine that a mobile wirelesscommunications device 40 associated with a user is at a beverage servingestablishment 23, and send a notification of the at least onebrand-based beverage promotional offer to the mobile wirelesscommunications device. The method also includes using the promotionsserver 30 to determine that a brand of beverage ordered by the usermatches the at least one brand-based beverage promotional offer, andcommunicate the at least one brand-based beverage promotional offer to apoint-of-sale (POS) terminal 50 for redemption thereat. The POS terminal50 is located at the beverage serving establishment 23 and configured toacquire user identification information, open a user beverage tab andcommunicate the user identification information to the promotions server30, and close the user beverage tab and communicate the user beveragetab to the promotions server, the user beverage tab identifying thebrand of a beverage ordered by the user.

While circuitry and components of the embodiments have been describedherein separately relative to their respective functions, it should beappreciated by those skilled in the art that the circuitry may beembodied on a single integrated circuit (IC) or circuit component,and/or combined into one or more ICs or circuit components. Moreover,the functions or operations described herein may be performed throughthe execution of computer executable instructions embodied on a computerreadable medium. For example, a non-transitory computer readable mediummay include computer executable instructions for processing abrand-based beverage promotional offer that when executed by a processor31 cause the processor to perform operations. The operations may includestoring in a memory 32 coupled to the processor at least one brand-basedbeverage promotional offer. The operations may also include determiningthat a mobile wireless communications device 40 associated with a useris at the beverage serving establishment 23, and sending a notificationof the at least one brand-based beverage promotional offer to the mobilewireless communications device. The operations may further includedetermining that a brand of beverage ordered by the user matches the atleast one brand-based beverage promotional offer, and communicating theat least one brand-based beverage promotional offer to a point-of-sale(POS) terminal 50 for redemption thereat. The POS terminal 50 may belocated at the beverage serving establishment and configured to acquireuser identification information, open a user beverage tab andcommunicate the user identification information to the promotionsserver, and close the user beverage tab and communicate the userbeverage tab to the promotions server, and the user beverage tab mayidentify the brand of a beverage ordered by the user.

Many modifications and other embodiments of the invention will come tothe mind of one skilled in the art having the benefit of the teachingspresented in the foregoing descriptions and the associated drawings.Therefore, it is understood that the invention is not to be limited tothe specific embodiments disclosed, and that modifications andembodiments are intended to be included within the scope of the appendedclaims.

That which is claimed is:
 1. A brand-based promotional offer systemcomprising: a promotions server configured to store at least onebrand-based beverage promotional offer; a mobile wireless communicationsdevice associated with a user; and a point-of-sale (POS) terminal for abeverage serving establishment and configured to acquire useridentification information, open a user beverage tab and communicate theuser identification information to said promotions server, and close theuser beverage tab and communicate the user beverage tab to saidpromotions server, the user beverage tab identifying a brand of abeverage ordered by the user; said promotions server configured todetermine that said mobile wireless communications device is at thebeverage serving establishment, and send a notification of the at leastone brand-based beverage promotional offer to the mobile wirelesscommunications device, and determine that the brand of beverage orderedby the user matches the at least one brand-based beverage promotionaloffer, and communicate the at least one brand-based beverage promotionaloffer to said POS terminal for redemption thereat.
 2. The brand-basedpromotional offer system of claim 1 wherein said POS terminal comprisesa POS device processor and a payment card reader coupled thereto; andwherein said POS device processor is configured to open the userbeverage tab based upon reading a payment card associated with the uservia said payment card reader.
 3. The brand-based promotional offersystem of claim 2 wherein said promotions server is configured to sendthe notification based upon reading the payment card.
 4. The brand-basedpromotional offer system of claim 1 wherein said mobile wirelesscommunications device comprises a geographic position determining deviceand a mobile device processor cooperating therewith to communicate ageographic position of said mobile wireless communications device tosaid promotions server.
 5. The brand-based promotional offer system ofclaim 4 wherein said promotions server is configured to determine thatsaid mobile wireless communications device is at the beverage servingestablishment based upon the geographic position.
 6. The brand-basedpromotional offer system of claim 1 wherein the user identificationinformation comprises at least one of a payment card identifierassociated with the user, a name of the user, and a phone numberassociated with the user.
 7. The brand-based promotional offer system ofclaim 1 wherein said POS terminal is configured to acquire useridentification information wirelessly from said mobile wirelesscommunications device.
 8. The brand-based promotional offer system ofclaim 1 wherein said mobile wireless communications device comprises adisplay and a mobile device processor coupled thereto; and wherein thenotification is displayed on said display.
 9. The brand-basedpromotional offer system of claim 1 wherein the notification comprisesat least one of an application notification, a short message service(SMS) message, and an email.
 10. The brand-based promotional offersystem of claim 1 wherein the at least one brand-based beveragepromotional offer comprises a discount toward the brand of the beverageordered by the user.
 11. The brand-based promotional offer system ofclaim 1 wherein the user beverage tab identifies a value associated withthe brand of the beverage ordered by the user.
 12. The brand-basedpromotional offer system of claim 1 wherein said promotions server isconfigured to accept an order for the beverage ordered by the user basedupon the at least one brand-based beverage promotional offer.